Two San Diego State student organizations, Students for Justice in Palestine and Aztecs for Israel, set  up their respective two-day demonstrations on campus last week, which resulted in heated arguments between both groups.
SJP erected an illustrated and graffitied gray wall, which represented the Israeli West Bank barrier dividing the Palestinian population from its families, work and natural resources.

The wall included anecdotes, quotes and statistics, as well as other claims, which enforced SJP’s main argument: Palestinian resistance against Israeli oppression.
AFI presented a wooden bridge with the Palestinian flag drawn on one end and the Israeli flag drawn at the other end. A poster board for people to write their definitions of peace and a set of pro-Israel panels accompanied the bridge, which was set in front of the Love Library, about 80 feet away from SJP’s wall.
Minutes after AFI’s last panel was set up on Wednesday morning, a man dressed as an Israeli soldier walked toward a set of steps located in between both demonstrations. He stood at the op of the steps, with the back toward AFI’s bridge, and held up a double-sided banner. One side of the banner read “We want peace, but … ,” a sentence that concluded as SJP’s mock soldier twisted the banner to reveal “Give us your $$ to fund our wars. Thanks, -Israel.”
“The soldier is there to tell people Israel isn’t very honest about its peaceful intentions and to counter the bridge to peace.” One attendent and SJP representative Nadir Bouhmouch said.
Following the arrival of the mock soldier, a woman stating she was a real Israeli soldier approached the steps and stood there as members from both organizations gathered. Arguments from both sides turned into a yelling match among the SJP members, AFI members and the real Israeli soldier, who claimed to have medically attended Palestinians.
“I was born and raised in Jerusalem,” an SJP member in the crowd said. “I’ve never seen Israeli soldiers helping Palestinians. I only see them pointing guns at them.”
The on-and-off arguments continued throughout the day. Crowds came and went along with the gimmicks.
The real Israeli soldier returned to the scene with a banner and a companion. She carried a poster that said she was the real soldier; her companion carried a banner which read “She gave medical aid to Palestinians.”
“Maybe because she shot them,” an SJP poster read in response.
Bouhmouch later took down the poster and said he regretted it.
He said later that afternoon a student, who is reportedly a member of AFI tried to push down a part of the SJP wall. The SDSU Police Department arrived and took down the student’s information.
“We feel like we are the ones who are attacked,” Bouhmouch said. “It’s an issue for me when you see terrorism and Hamas Charter as a focus of (AFI’s) display, when our focus is on nonviolent resistance. We’re not trying to defend someone. We’re trying to speak of something that is spoken everywhere else in the world.”
Bouhmouch referred to panels set up by AFI, which presented alleged excerpts from the Hamas Charter, with subtitles such as “Obliterate Israel,” “No Negotiations” and “Kill Jews.”
“We are seen as anti-Semites, which is really not true,” Bouhmouch said.

AFI President Mor Frankle said the organizations kept to themselves during Thursday’s demonstrations and agreed to encourage students to attend each other’s displays.
“I feel for the Palestinian people,” Frankle said. “I am pro-Israel, pro-Palestine and pro-peace. I would love there to be two states, where the Palestinian people and the Israeli people live side by side in a state of peace and harmony.”
But, Thurday’s harmony did not last. Frankle said she was told that fake eviction notices were posted on the doors of Jewish students’ apartments at Piedra del Sol housing.
“If it’s true, it leaves a very sour taste to the week,” Frankle said.
According to Frankle, AFI has tried to make peace with SJP in the past, but AFI has been met with day-of cancelations and a silent protest where SJP members attended an Israeli-soldier event, put tapes on their mouths and walked out minutes after it had begun.
“The way we see it is that we are just trying to advocate for what we think is justice, and they are trying to advocate for a country to use military force against the people, and we don’t think there is any sort of discussion there,” Bouhmouch said.

Yesterday, an article titled, “Student organizations battle for peace” was printed, which detailed Palestine Awareness Week and Israel Peace Week. The articl stated Aztecs for Israel President Mor Frankle “said she was told that fake eviction notices were posted on the doors of Jewish students’ apartments at Piedra del Sol housing.” 

These fake eviction notices were posted on the doors of every tenant in Piedra del Sol, along with several other apartment complexes, fraternity and sorority houses around campus, according to Students for Justice in Palestine President Nadir Bouhmouch. Furthermore, Bouhmouch said SJP intentionally avoided posting the fake eviction notices, which they said were meant to mimic the Israeli government evicting more than 25,000 Palestinian housing units, on the doors of Alpha Epsilon Phi, Alpha Epsilon Pi and the Chabad House to avoid accusations of being anti-Semitic.

While Frankle said she may not have had all the information available when commenting on the situation last week, she said several Israeli students living in the apartments felt personally targeted, and that the act of posting the fake eviction notices could be construed as inherently anti-Semitic. 

Also in the same article, we printed that a member of AFI attempted to push down part of the SJP wall. This person is a member of AEPi, not AFI.